This brief summarizes the teenagers respond to HIV risk information? Evidence from a field experiment in Kenya. The training occurred over four months from February 2003 to May 2003.
... See More + The relative risk campaign was phased in from July 2004 to October 2004. Providing information on the relative risk of HIV infection by partners age led to a 28 percent decrease in teen pregnancy, an objective proxy for the incidence of unprotected sex. Self-reported sexual behavior data suggests substitution away from older (riskier) partners and toward same-age partners. In contrast, the official abstinence-only HIV curriculum had no impact on teen pregnancy. These results suggest that teenagers are responsive to risk information, but their sexual behavior is more elastic on the intensive than on the extensive margin.
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This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled Education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention : evidence from a randomized evaluation in Western Kenya, conducted between 2003 and 2005 in Kenya.
... See More + The study reports results from randomized evaluation comparing three school-based HIV or AIDS interventions in Kenya on the individual level. After two years the teacher training program had little impact on students knowledge and self-reported sexual activity and condom use, or on teen childbearing. However, it increased students tolerance toward people with HIV or AIDS, although this effect was significant only for girls. Girls exposed to the program were more likely to be married to the fathers of their children. Its overall impact on exposure to the HIV risk is unclear. Debates among peers on the role of condoms and an associated essay competition on ways students can protect themselves against AIDS increased self-reported use of condoms but this effect was only significant amongst boys. The self-reported sexual activity did not increase. The condom debate and essay competition took place too recently to detect any possible reduction in childbearing. Reducing the cost of education by paying for school uniforms reduced dropout rates and the incidence of teen childbearing with a similar magnitude of effect for boys and girls. Funding for the study derived from the Partnership for Child Development and the World Bank.
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This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled School governance, teacher incentives, and pupil-teacher ratios : experimental evidence from Kenyan primary schools, conducted between 2005 and 2006 in Kenya.
... See More + The study observed the impact of a program under which Kenyan parent-teacher associations (PTAs) at randomly selected schools were funded to hire an additional teacher on a renewable contract, outside normal ministry of education civil service channels, at one-quarter normal compensation levels on the student, teacher, and school level. Despite a dramatic reduction in class size, the program generated little improvement for students who remained in the standard system. Civil service teachers were 13 points less likely to be found in class teaching if their school received funding to hire a contract teacher. The program increased test scores by 28 percent of a standard deviation for those students assigned to PTA contract teachers. There is strong evidence that locally hired and monitored teachers had better incentives, they were 15 percent more likely to be in class teaching during unannounced spot checks. The school based management program had significant positive impacts on the tendency for civil service teachers to cut effort in response to introduction of a contract teacher. Funding for the study derived from the World Bank, Government of Netherlands.
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This brief summarizes the turning a shove into a nudge? A labeled cash transfer for education in Morocco. The transfer was made every two months during the 2008-2010 school years.
... See More + Through a randomized experiment in over 600 poor, rural communities of Morocco, the author test whether the demonstrated ability of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) to increase human capital attainment in low and middle income countries hinges on three of their standard features: that they constrain behavior through conditions; that they are paid to mothers rather than fathers; and that they are relatively large. The short answer is no. The author find that relatively small cash transfers (equivalent to 4 percent of annual household expenditures) had large effects on schooling outcomes, irrespective of whether they were conditional on attendance and of whether they were targeted at mothers. The author provide evidence that cash transfer programs may affect human capital investments in part through an endorsement effect: in our study context, benefiting from a pro-education government program increased the perceived quality of local schools and parents beliefs about the returns to education.
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The authors report results from a randomized evaluation comparing three school-based HIV/AIDS interventions in Kenya: (1) training teachers in the Kenyan Governments HIV/AIDS-education curriculum; (2) encouraging students to debate the role of condoms and to write essays on how to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS; and (3) reducing the cost of education.
... See More + Their primary measure of the effectiveness of these interventions is teenage childbearing, which is associated with unprotected sex. The authors also collected measures of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding HIV/AIDS. After two years, girls in schools where teachers had been trained were more likely to be married in the event of a pregnancy. The program had little other impact on students knowledge, attitudes, and behavior, or on the incidence of teen childbearing. The condom debates and essays increased practical knowledge and self-reported use of condoms without increasing self-reported sexual activity. Reducing the cost of education by paying for school uniforms reduced dropout rates, teen marriage, and childbearing.
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